Builder Redrow attacks wall of planning bureaucracy

Perhaps it's time for developers to pay up to increase the resources available to cash-strapped planning departments

New homes: But there aren't enough of them (Getty)

Unveiling a thumping 35 per cent rise in profits just a day after the Government’s White Paper on housing, housebuilder Redrow took a pop at a familiar target: the planning authorities.

Chairman Steve Morgan growled about a “wall of bureaucracy” facing developers on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. He's hardly the first builder to do that, and he surely won’t be the last.

Killian Hurley, chief executive of fellow property group Mount Anvil, also raised the issue of planning in relation to the White Paper, telling the London Evening Standard that the Government’s plan to reduce the time allowed between the granting of planning permission and getting started on site was “a great ambition, but it needs to be funded properly”.

Local authorities, he opined, need to be better resourced in order for this to work.

About that, he is quite right.

Local government has its problems. It can be hugely frustrating to deal with. Some councils (although not all) have a tendency to behave in an overly bureaucratic and officious manner, and that doesn’t just cause annoyance to people like Mr Morgan.

As someone who once worked on a regional newspaper, I was sometimes required to give up evenings to report on planning committee meetings. And yes, that was every bit as bad as it sounds. It does, however, mean I’ve seen the way they operate up close. It's often not pretty and had Mr Morgan sat with me, he might well have been moved to tear his hair out..

However, constantly blaming local government for the country’s ills is cheap, particularly when those ills can very often to be traced back to the cheap behaviour of central government.

Local authorities have not just been starved of resources through the austerity years. In some cases, they’ve been strangled.

Planning departments don’t tend to be at the front of the queue for cash at the best of times. When councils are having to decide whether to close the local library, the local swimming pool, or the small care home that residents love but is uneconomic, they can whistle.

“But we already need at least five more people,” the head of planning complains, jabbing her finger at the chief financial officer, the CEO and the leader of the council, who have called her in to demand she cut 10 per cent from her budget.

“Yes, we’re hearing that a lot. Afraid you’ll just have to manage. Unless you’d like to take a pay cut?”

Housebuilders have bounced back strongly from the financial crisis. They're making pots of money again, and they look set to continue doing so for the foreseeable future.

As such, perhaps there ought to be a greater contribution from them towards alleviating a housing shortage that they are profiting so handsomely from. Perhaps the Government ought to consider a charge against their profits to provide the resources developers say planning departments need. With corporation tax falling, it needn’t be too onerous, and they'd benefit in the long run.

It’s also worth remembering, that when developers complain about red tape, it’s sometimes necessary.

Many of the conditions imposed when planning permissions are granted are there for very good reasons. Planning departments have to be sure that developments will remain pleasant, sustainable, and accessible long after the developers have packed up and moved on to the next project.